Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-10
BEDS OF ALL NATIONS.
Some of the Peculiarisfes I'm For.
mcr Times.

some of the Peculiaritfes in For.
mcr Times.
The beds of the ancients had in
general few peculiarities to distinguish
them from our own simpler forms. Both
the Greeks and the Romans had their
beds supported on fran IS that resembled
our modern bedsteads; feather and wool
mattresses were common, and the bed.
clothing, in the luxurious period of each
nation, was richly decorated with elab.
crate needlework. The Britons, when
conquered by Ce ,ar, slept on skins, after
the manner OF the North America,
Indians; but at later period they made
use Of straw sacks as beds. The ancient
Egyptians had O couch of q peculiar
shape and profusion of soft cushions
and richly embroidered drapefy. Most
of the beds mentioned in the Bible were
probably of the ordinary, simple kind
During the Middle Ages bids were
made of coarse canvas anil filled with
straw or leaves. These could he opened
and the litter remade daily, as is the
custom to-day with the mattresses in the
old.fashioned iuns Of Francs and Italy.
The bedsteads were low-posted, and usu.
ally had canopy at the head. In the
Bayeux tapestry Edward the Confessor
is represented lying upon raised seat,
his head supported by squared pillows
and the canopy over his head is attached
80 the wall. Scott in his romancs of
'1vanhoe," describes one of the bed, in
the mansion of Cedric the Saxon, as
consisting Of rude hatch or bed frame,
stuffed with clean straw, and accommo-
dated with two or three sheepskins by
way OF bed Clothes Tho bed of the
Lady Rowena twas adorned with rich
tapestry, aud surrounded with curtlins
of dyed purple"
The house of the ancient Eaglish
gentleman was not, as general thing,
provided with bed rooms. A chamber
or shed was built against the wall that
enclosed the mansion and its dependen-
cies, and in this little cell the lord aud
his lady slept. Sometimes there was
another chamber of the same kind built
for the daughter or young ladies of the
house. Many illusions to such bed
rooms are found in Chaucer. In the
"Miller's Tale" there il such room
spoken of in the carpenters house. The
miller in the "Reeves Tale" had only
one bed room, and his daughter slept in
the same room in bed covered with
1sheets aud Chalon coverlets fairly
spred." As a general thing, the young
men of the house and the guests slept on
tables and benches in the great hall
where woolen coverlets or blankets were
provided for warmth. Servants and
attendants slept on the floor.
Later on, in the time of the Tudors,
the 'four post" bedstead, an immense
piece of furniture, having a canopy sup.
ported at each corner by the posts, be-
came the fashionable sleeping couch.
Some of tho old wills mention "pos.ed
sett work beds.eads. These paneled
bedsteads were sometimes of elegant and
massive architecture. The columns re.
sembled huge ballusters, and rose from
square dado bases. and all the frame
pieces were carved with decorative mold
ings of various patterns. On some of
the earlier bedsteads the column termin.
ated with figures representing the four
evangelists.
In the medieval ballad there is men.
toned made of the four gospellorous
(gospelers or evangelists) on the four
pilioues (pillars) aud heads of angels, all
of one mould" The invocation still in
use in some Of the English country
places is an echo of this old custom:
Mathew, Mark, Luke aud John,
Bless the bed that l sleep on
Two angels at m; head,
Four angels round my bed,
Two to watch and two 10 pray,
And two to carry my soul away.
Under these great "sett work" bee.
steads were put trundle. beds for the
body servants and children. It is
related Of Spanish page who went to
Queen Elizabeth, that one day while
wandering about the spacious mansion
he entered the rooms where the maids |
were making the beds. and spying the
arrangement OF the sliding beds was
quite taken with them. In his own |
country he had slept on straw in the
hostler's loft, but in England he had
found that rather uncomfortable on
account of the cold. So he says to his
master: "Sir, there are o sort of little |
beds under the great beds in this house
which they say are for the servants;
pray you to allow me to lie in one of
them" In the sleeping chamber was
usually 'perch," answering to an old.
fashioned clothes horse. On it, says an
old writer, chang your clothes, nantels, |
frocks, cloaks. doublets, furs. winter
clothes and OF summer"
''Shakespeare's second best bed,
with s'the furniture" which he be. |
queathed to his wife, Ann Hathaway, |
was, undoubtedly. one of those huge |
bsdsteads, with canopy,
curtains and square pillows. The furni-
ture consisted of the changed beds,
"harden sheets" Of fine fax, ''Aock beds
''pillow beers" and ''counter
points" so named from the fact that the
squares were in contrasting colors. The
well.to.do gentleman of the late Middle
Ages kept good supply of bedding. In
'The Tanning of the Shrew" Gremio |
glibly names over the furniture of his
coantry house, and is careful to include |
bed apparel:
In Ivory Golfers have stuffed my crowns,
In cypress chests my arras. counter points, |
Costly apparel, tents and csnOpies,
Fine linen. Turkeys cushions, bossed with |
Variance of Venice gold and needlework.
The "Great Bed of Ware" mentioned |
by Shakespeare, is probaly the largest bed |
in the the world. 1t is Of the Tudor |
style, twelve feet square. Of solid oak,
and elaborately carved. For three centu- |
ries or more it has been preserved at the |
Inn of the Saracen's Head in the town |
of Ware, in Hertfordshire. As many as
twelve persons are said to have slept in |
it at one time'-[Cosmopolitan Review.
Dairying I'm Fresno County.